Installation of VS 2008 web templates

I am clearly and obviously very new to this sharepoint web part process and there is a great deal that I do not understand as yet. I have tried to install the templates for VS 2008 so I can use them to create my first sample web part. During the installation
process I get an error "could not find the solution file '$safeprojectname$.wsp'. After reading about the wspbuilder it sounds (to Me and that could be the confusion) as if it is a resultant product of taking your already developed web part and preparing
it for deployment. I feel like I am in a "chicken and the egg" type process in that I have to have the .wsp file in order to load the templates so that I can use the templates to build a part so that I can create a .wsp file to deploy the web part!
I apologize for my denseness, but I could use a little clarity please.